


You Will Be Found In Santa Fe

by LatinNameLuna



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson, Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bi Evan Hansen, Crossover, F/F, Gay Connor Murphy (Dear Evan Hansen), Gay David Jacobs, Gay Newsies, Ill update tags as i go, Jack is oblivious, M/M, bi jack kelly, connor and jack are roommates, evan and davey are roommates, i have next to noplot planned for this, im sorry?, javid - Freeform, just a shit ton of headcanons, no one is straight, non binary elmer, platonic ralbert, race and albert are roommates, this is so self indulgent, yes its chaotic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:29:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26287243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LatinNameLuna/pseuds/LatinNameLuna
Summary: Dear Evan Hansen and Newsies crossover because i love them bothEvan Hansen goes to college hoping that it'll be better than high school. He's ready to start anew, make friends with his roommate, maybe even date someone. What he isn't expecting is his high schools notorious troubled kid, Connor Murphy, to be thrust into his life by his roommate.Jack Kelly is in love with his best friend. The problem is, he hasn't realised it. Until he does, and really what could taht do but cause problems?well that's a shit summary, but i honestly have no idea where i'm going with this, but please read it
Relationships: Albert DaSilva/Elmer (Newsies), David Jacobs/Jack Kelly, Evan Hansen & David Jacobs, Evan Hansen/Connor Murphy, Sarah Jacobs/Zoe Murphy, Spot Conlon/Racetrack Higgins
Comments: 33
Kudos: 45





	1. Evans off to college

**Author's Note:**

> So, this fic may be a mess and it's definitely for a very niche audience, but i hope you enjoy it if you are reading. I have a lot of random things that I know I want to add into this, but really I'm just winging it. anyway, i hope you enjoy it

Evan Hansen had scraped his knee. This wasn't important, not even slightly-but if he focused on that, he wouldn't be worrying about what was finally happening the next day. If he only thought about the fact that his knee was stinging, then he wouldn't have another panic attack about starting college. Or so he hoped. 

Rather than staring at the almost overflowing suitcase on his floor, Evan looked at the blood on his leg. Rather than imagining what would happen when he met his roommate, he replayed the memory of him tripping over the flowerpot outside of his front door. He considered telling Jared about it, and maybe inviting him over to help Evan distract himself, but he knew that Jared making fun of him (although they both knew it was only a joke) wasn't likely to help with the panic building inside him. 

Evan sighed, frustrated with himself. He knew there was no reason for him to be this worried about college--no one else seemed panicked at all. Jared had been practically buzzing with excitement last time Evan had seen him. But Jared had known for years what college he wanted to go to and what he wanted to study, and he already knew his roommate from a summer camp they both went to. Evan, on the other hand, only knew that he didn't want to be too far from home, and that he was interested in doing something to do with plants, or writing. He also had no idea who his roommate was. For all Evan knew, he could be a murderer, or a future dentist, or just some really douchey party guy who'd have hundreds of people over all the time who would break Evans stuff and laugh at him. 

Or he could be nice, Evan thought bitterly, and try to make friends with me, only to realise that I'm a fucking mess and there's a reason my only friend is basically a relative. Evan shook his head, he shouldn't be letting himself have thoughts like that. Things were going to be better in college. It was a new start for Evan, and he wasn't going to let it be as lonely as high school. He was going to make friends, answer questions in class, give presentations that consisted of words other than "um".   
Or, at least, that's what he kept telling himself. 

Evan was drawn from his thoughts by the sound of his mum getting back from work. She'd booked the evening off before her class that night so she could help Evan finish packing. She'd also somehow managed to get the entire next day off, although Evan still worried that that plan could fall through at any moment. Years of disappointment have taught Evan not to get excited for something until it's happening, or you'll just be let down. 

"Evan, honey, I'm home!" Heidi called up the stairs, brightly, trying as usual to be as cheerful as possible.  
"Hi, mom." Evan replied, trying to suppress the worry he was still desperate to ignore.   
His door opened and there stood Heidi Hansen, she was smiling widely, but her eyes were tired and sad as she took in Evan's anxious state. Her hair was falling out of its ponytail, and her clothes were rumpled. She'd clearly had a long day, but she still tried to put as much energy in her voice as possible.   
Although Evan appreciated her effort to keep things light, he sometimes wished she would stop trying so hard to hide how exhausted she was--wished she would be honest with him. 

Of course, Evan didn't say any of this, just mirrored her fake smile and forced joyfulness. 

They spent the majority of the evening making sure that everything Evan could possibly need was packed up and ready to go. Evan had assumed that he'd feel less anxious once he had finished packing, but seeing his room looking so barren just made everything all the more real and he somehow became even more nervous.

As Heidi's eyes did a final sweep of the room to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything, Evan started biting his nails and trying to push back a panic attack. This is stupid, he thought, i should be glad to go, excited to get a fresh start. 

"Well, bud, I think we're done!" Heidi announced, drawing Evan out of his head and back to the real world. "What do you want for dinner? I was thinking we could order something in, to celebrate your last night at home. How does that sound?" 

Evan nodded, "Sounds good." 

Heidi was slightly dejected by how unenthusiastic Evan was, but she tried not to let it show. "Pizza good?" She asked, a final attempt to make conversation with her son.   
Evan simply nodded again, seeming distracted.   
Heidi smiled tightly at him, before going downstairs to order the food. 

\--------------

The next morning was chaotic to say the least. 

Evan had spent the majority of the night tossing and turning in worry, planning every second of his day. So, after he finally fell asleep at around 3am, he woke up much later than planned. 

This threw off his meticulous plan of how the day would go and left him more anxious than he had expected to be, despite the fact that his plan had left hours of contingency time in case there was any problem.   
Thankfully, there were no more problems, and Evan and Heidi were on the road only an hour after they'd planned to be. Which is exactly what they'd both expected. 

\-----------------

After half an hour of driving in silence (other than the noise of Evan fidgeting), Heidi asked if anyone Evan knew was going to the same school as him.   
Evan shrugged, "Maybe." truthfully, he only knew where one person was going for college and that was Jared, and obviously Heidi already knew as well, so despite Heidi's glance at him that said 'really, Evan, aren't you going to say more' and the guilty feeling that that look instilled in him, Evan stayed silent. 

A few minutes later, Heidi tried again. "You excited to meet your roommate, bud?"   
Evan mumbled a 'yes', even though he was probably more nervous than excited.   
Heidi ploughed on, ignoring his discouraging response. "Your college roommate can become your best friend for life…" She went on to tell the story that Evan had heard hundreds of times, of how she and Jared's mom became as close as sisters through sharing a room. 

Evan drowned out the one-sided discussion by texting Jared. 

From Evan: please tell me your mom is also giving the roommate speech

He didn't have to wait long before a reply came through

From Jared: my mom's too busy crying to give me any kind of speech lmao

Evan chuckled, Mrs Kleinman had always been overly sensitive. She and Evan had that in common. 

From Jared: oh shit wait  
From Jared: i told her i was texting you and NOW she's giving me the roommate speech gee thanks evan

Evan chuckled again, and this time Heidi smiled at him.   
"You texting Jared?" 

"Yeah, his mom is being really dramatic apparently." Evan offered, not wanting to lose yet another conversation after one word. 

Heidi laughed, "She's been being dramatic about Jared going to college since before he was born." 

The remainder of the drive was mostly silent, but less uncomfortable. And Evan was almost able to stop worrying for a little while, although his myriad of college related fears were still floating around the back of his head.


	2. Newsies in college? What an original concept

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Davey go to college
> 
> Race and Albert share a room

"Heya, Davey, you ready to go?" Jack asked, standing in the doorway of Davey Jacobs' disaster of a bedroom. 

"Jesus, Dave," He laughed, glancing around, "What'd you do in here?" 

Davey's room was a dump of clothes and boxes and books and bags. Jack had no idea how Davey could keep track of what was what, but he seemed pretty secure in his system, so Jack assumed that there was some method to his madness. 

Davey smiled sheepishly at Jack from his bed, where he was sat with a list of what he needed, doing a final check that he was completely ready for college.  
"I know it looks like chaos," He said, "but it's organized chaos, so it's fine." 

Jack smiled, amused by Davey's messiness and glad to have made him smile.  
Everyone who met Davey thought that he was incredibly tidy, some even expected him to be a perfectionist, but truthfully he was even messier than Jack- he just knew how to keep the mess organized and was capable of being tidy if he had to be. Jack on the other hand… Let's just say that he desperately hoped his roommate wouldn't be a neat-freak. 

"Boys!" Medda, Jack's adoptive mother shouted from downstairs, "We need to get going!" 

"Coming Mom!" Jack yelled in reply. 

After helping Davey carry all his stuff to the car, Jack stood awkwardly in the Jacobs' living room while Davey said goodbye to his family. He wondered if Davey was upset about having to be driven by Medda instead of one of his parents (his mom was busy taking Sarah to college and his dad had to look after Les, so it made sense for Davey to go with Jack, since they were going to the same place) but he didn't seem bothered. 

Once Davey had promised to text and call and video chat with everyone whenever he could, he and Jack piled into Medda's car and were off to college. 

\-----------

"Sucks we couldn't be roommates." Jack complained as they trudged from Davey's room to his, having finished unpacking all of Davey's stuff. They had planned to request to room together, but they'd missed the deadline to send it in, so they'd both been assigned roommates. 

Davey hummed in agreement. "It doesn't matter too much, though, we'll just hang out in whoever's room has the more tolerable roommate. Or in Race and Al's room, if both of our roommates suck." 

Jack laughed, still ecstatic about the fact that Albert would have to share a room with Racetrack Higgins--there was no way that they'd both survive the year.

He began wondering what his roommate would be like. 'Connor Murphy' was his name, but that didn't give much away. Hopefully he wouldn't mind Jack's near constant painting, or his love of country music, or Davey and Race, who would almost definitely be as present in the room as Jack, or Jack constantly calling Crutchie. 

When they arrived at Jack's room, his roommate's belongings were there--still packed, but Connor himself was nowhere to be seen. Although he was kind of miffed about having to wait even longer to meet his roommate, Jack was enjoying the time alone with Davey, and then with Medda and Davey when she got back from a nearby shop with food for them all. 

Once they had finished setting up Jack's room, Medda had to get back home to make sure that Crutchie would be ready to be dropped off at college the next day. A different college to Jack, a concept which still terrified him. He and Crutchie had always been together, looking out for each other, cleaning up each other's messes. To be so far from his best friend for so long sounded like torture for Jack; realistically he knew they'd both be fine, and that they'd talk everyday--but he couldn't help worrying about his little sibling (it didn't matter that Jack was only a matter of months older, Crutchie was still younger). 

And even though Crutchie was far away, Jack still had Davey, who, he realised suddenly, was trying to get his attention. 

"Huh?" Jack blurted, pulling himself out of his thoughts. 

Davey chuckled, "I said we should see if Albert and Race have arrived and if they need any help setting up their room." 

"Oh, they definitely do." 

\--------

As Jack had expected, Race and Albert's room was a mess. Race seemed to have something against organisation of any kind, judging by the state of his possessions. Albert on the other hand was too indecisive about where things should go, and the combination of these resulted in what looked like a room shared by at least seven toddlers. 

"Jesus Christ." He said, in lieu of a greeting as he took in the chaos. "How the hell did you two do this?" 

Davey had foregone conversation entirely and was already moving things around and trying to figure out who owned what. 

"It was all Race." Albert groaned, leaping out of the way as Davey squatted beside him to pick up something he'd been standing on. 

"Hey! It was not all me! Half a' this shit is yours." 

"Yeah, but you're the one who thought it would take too long to empty the boxes by hand and just turned 'em all over instead!" 

Jack rolled his eyes as Race and Albert got into one of their notoriously overdramatic fights. He truly had no clue why they thought sharing a room would be a good idea, unless they were doing it to keep any other students from having to deal with either of them (but Jack was sure that wasn't it, as both of them were convinced that they were delightful). 

"Hey, could you two idiots stop fighting and help me out?" Davey snapped, though not very harshly. 

"Yes mom." Race replied, while Albert continued grumbling about something that Race had done. 

\-----------

By the time they'd sorted out the room, Race and Albert seemed to have forgotten about the argument, or at least put it behind them, and were best friends again until whenever the next fight would be. Probably later that night. Jack and Davey went back to his room before they could find out.


	3. Connor makes an entrance (so does Crutchie)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Davey meet their roommates

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love this chapter and I hope you enjoy it too

Connor returned to his room later than he'd expected to, hoping that his roommate wasn't some freak who went to bed super early. He'd left the room as soon as he'd dumped all his stuff in it, deciding he'd rather walk around campus than unpack. And if he'd smoked a joint on his walk, what did that matter? He was just trying to keep calm as he got used to college. 

When Connor entered his room, his roommate was not only awake, but also not alone. _Great,_ he thought satirically, _I'm rooming with an extravert. Fucking wonderful._ He briefly considered turning around and just not sleeping, but he knew he couldn't avoid his room permanently, so he suppressed a groan of frustration and stepped into the room, keeping his eyes on the floor. 

"Hey!" Greeted an obnoxiously cheerful voice. "You must be Connor Murphy?"  
It sounded like a question, but he didn't give Connor a chance to respond. Not that he would've done anyway.  
"I'm Jack Kelly, and this is my buddy Davey." 

Connor finally looked up from the floor at his roommate and his friend. It was immediately evident which of the two was Jack from the slightly arrogant smile that he wore. Connor looked him up and down warily. He was shorter than Connor--his friend was, too, but Jack was shortest--he had messy brown hair and brown eyes, and Connor reluctantly accepted that he was very attractive. Not at all Connor's type, but he could recognise that Jack was pretty in the same way that he could see that a girl was pretty, even though he was gay as fuck. 

Jack's friend Davey also had brown hair, but it was much neater than Jack's, and his eyes were blue. Connor got the impression that he was smart, and also gay, judging by the way he was gazing at Jack. Connor wondered if they were together and just didn't want to say for fear of Connor being homophobic, but he didn't really care, so he didn't ask. 

In fact, he didn't reply at all, letting the silence stretch for long enough that Jack couldn't help but break it. He turned to Davey and offered to walk back to his room with him, and Davey thankfully accepted, leaving Connor alone to unpack and come to terms with the fact that _that_ was his roommate. 

\------------

"Do you wanna come in for a bit?" Davey asked as they arrived at his door. 

Jack shook his head. "Nah, I'm gonna go see if I can get a word outta my weird emo roommate." 

"Jack!" Davey admonished jokingly, "At least try to get to know him before calling him a weird emo." 

Jack grinned, "A'right, mom. G'night." 

"Night, Cowboy." Davey replied, using Jack's old nickname as revenge for calling him mom. 

Davey entered his room and immediately a figure leapt out of a chair, scaring Davey half to death. He looked at his roommate. He was probably about as tall as Davey, but he slouched enough that he appeared closer to Jack's height. He fidgeted almost as much as Race, though Davey could tell that, unlike Race, it was from nerves rather than excessive energy. His blue eyes flickered between each wall and the floor, avoiding contact with Davey's at all costs. Clearly, he had some kind of anxiety, but Davey didn't really know what to do with that. If Jack or Crutchie had been there, they'd have known exactly how to make him feel safe and calm, but Davey wasn't good with people like that. 

"I'm David Jacobs." He said, deciding that silently observing his roommate would help no one. 

The boy across the room swallowed before responding, in a quiet voice, "I'm Evan Hansen. It's, uh, it's nice to meet you?" 

It was clearly a statement, but the way Evan spoke made it sound like he was questioning the words as they left his lips. Davey hoped that if he kept the conversation going, maybe Evan would begin to feel more comfortable. 

"What're you majoring in?" He asked, moving to sit on his bed. 

"I'm, uh, doing English, um, creative writ-" He paused to swallow, "Creative writing. What about you?" 

Davey smiled in a way that he hoped wasn't overly enthusiastic, but also didn't look forced. "I'm also doing English. Journalism." 

Evan didn't reply, and it looked to Davey as though he was searching for an escape. "Well, I'm gonna hit the hay," He held in a laugh at how casually the expression had slipped out, clearly he was spending too much time with Cowboy Kelly. 

\-------------

In Connor's opinion, Jack could've taken at least a little bit longer to get back to their room. He had barely finished filling his part of the room with his minimalistic possessions when the door opened and in walked Jack, seemingly permanent cocky grin etched on his face. 

"Hey, Connor. How's it goin'?" Jack asked, casual as anything. 

Connor weighed his options of how to respond. If he ignored Jack again, he might get the idea and leave Connor alone, or he might become more persistent in his conversation attempts. However, if Connor replied, maybe Jack would be appeased. 

"Fine." Connor eventually said, deciding to humour Jack, hoping desperately that it would shut him up. 

It didn't. 

"What's ya major?" Jack questioned, flopping onto his bed like he was perfectly at home in this room with a stranger. 

Connor rolled his eyes at the cliché ice-breaker. "Art." 

"Hey! Me too!" Jack said, with much more enthusiasm than was necessary. 

"Great." Connor replied flatly, having had enough of Jack already. He very obviously pulled his headphones out of a bag, plugged them into his phone, and tuned Jack out with the loudest music he could find. Jack seemed to get the message, as he stopped bothering Connor and instead started drawing in a worn out sketchbook that looked like it had been through a lot. Connor briefly wondered what his art looked like, what he liked to draw, his favourite medium to create with… If Connor had been anyone else, he probably would've asked. 

Instead, he scowled and turned away from Jack, who seemed to have forgotten that Connor existed. 

Connor had almost fallen asleep- having turned off his music, but kept on his headphones--when Jack suddenly started talking. 

"Crutchie!" He greeted, presumably calling someone, though Connor didn't bother opening his eyes to check. He did, however, wonder who the fuck Crutchie was, and what the fuck could've given him that nickname--beside the obvious explanation, but he thought that must be a bit too on the nose to bother naming someone for it. It suddenly crossed his mind that Jack could be one of those people who gave everyone stupid nicknames, though he'd introduced his friend from before as Davey, rather than something ridiculous. 

Jack suddenly laughed loudly, and Connor realised that he'd been doing a really shit job at eavesdropping. He refocused on Jack's conversation. 

"So, what's your roommate like? Is he there?" 

Connor felt Jack glance at him. "Yeah, he's here. Think he might be asleep, though. He ain't listening regardless, don't worry. Anyway, he seems kinda, uhh, antisocial? I dunno, I tried to talk to 'im earlier and he really didn't seem to want me to…" 

Jack trailed off. Connor was surprised at how he'd been described. Jack hadn't immediately written him off as an angry jerk who he'd never get along with. He was understanding. It wasn't something Connor was used to. It made him wary of Jack, what reason did he have not to hate Connor? 

Jack started talking again. "You remember when we first met Al? How he was kinda rude and standoffish? Connor's like that, or at least, he was today." 

"Jack, I know that look, what are you thinking?"

So a video call then. 

"I dunno, Crutch, I wanna help him. I wanna find out what's goin' on, y'know?" 

A sigh came from Jack's phone. "Jack. You know you can't save everyone from everything, right? I know you're good at helping people, and you just want everyone to be happy- but Jack, you can't fix everything." 

"I know Crutch, but I can try." 

Another sigh. "Alright, Cowboy, I gotta go. Say hi to the others for me, and good luck with ya roommate." 

"For sure. Love ya Crutchie." 

"Love you too, Jackie." 

Connor lay awake for hours after that--but he was depressed and gay, so that wasn't any different to normal. He had no idea what to make of that conversation. He figured that talking to Jack would be the best way to find out, but he knew that wasn't gonna happen. 

He couldn't stop thinking about Jack's analysis of him. How Jack actually saw him as a person, rather than a stereotype. Barely anyone else had ever done that. Really just his only almost-friend from high school. He wondered if he and Jack could potentially be friends, but he knew that was stupid. Sure, Jack seemed fine now, but it was only a matter of time before Connor did something irredeemable. 

And who was 'Al'? A friend of Jack and 'Crutchie's, obviously, but he had been like Connor… But not anymore. Why? Jack had gone on about wanting to help him. Connor despised pity, but Jack hadn't sounded pitying. It didn't matter anyway, because Connor was certain that by the end of the week Jack would detest him.


	4. How Many Different ways Can Jack Nod In One Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jared makes a friend
> 
> Evan and Jack meet
> 
> Albert has a crush

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So apparently when I'm writing Jack he just nods constantly and I don't know why

Jared had been dreaming of this school for as long as he could remember, and he was beyond ecstatic to be there. However, he had a reputation, so feigning indifference was his plan. 

It fell through almost immediately. Jared constantly found himself grinning and waving at people, being more amicable than he had been since Kindergarten--it was an unexpected twist from his asshole high school attitude. 

After class one day, Jared was approached by a kind of small blond guy, walking with a limp and crutches. They were pretty cute, if Jared was honest, and if he'd been the flirting type, he might've said so. Instead, as he was in fact the insecure, self-hating type, he simply introduced himself. 

The person (who introduced themself as "Charlie, but my friends all call me Crutchie because--well, it ain't hard to work out why." and also nervously mentioned that they were not in fact a boy, and used they/them pronouns) had approached Jared because they didn't know anyone else and Jared 'looked friendly'.   
Jared struggled to hold back laughter at that. Friendly had never been his strong suit. 

Jared ended up spending lunch with Crutchie that day, and it was nice to have someone to hang out with. Jared hadn't expected to make any friends, just people he could talk to in class or share a table with at lunch (acquaintances, you could say, but that made him think of Alana Beck and he didn't like to think about people from high school, except for Evan, but he didn't count) but Crutchie seemed to try to become friends with everyone they spoke to. 

Even assholes like Jared. 

He was telling all of this to Evan- who he'd finally learnt to communicate with during their senior year, after an eye-opening incident involving a tree- over a Skype call. 

"It's weird," Jared mused, "Having someone other than you be nice to me." He shook his head, and plastered a grin on his face, always better not to be _too_ honest . "Although I'm sure they're just doing it for car insurance or something." 

Evan smiled, but it was clearly forced, and his eyes were full of concern. "Jared…" 

"Sorry, bad joke. Anyway, how's shit with you?" Jared asked, fully knowing that it would send Evan rambling until he'd forgotten the car insurance thing. 

"It's, uhh, it's alright? I don't know, my roommate's nice, but he's not here much, he mentioned going to see a friend one time, so I guess they just hang out a lot. I don't think he likes me. I think he's uncomfortable talking to me, because I can't carry a conversation." Evan quickly changed the subject. "My classes are okay, kind of boring at times, but I guess I expected that." 

Evan seemed to realise how much he had been talking, and promptly shut up. Jared winced, knowing that it was at least in part because the years of him teasing Evan for either talking too much or not enough. He wished he could take back all of the stupid comments and hurtful jokes, but that was impossible, so he had just stopped making them and hoped that that was enough. 

The conversation was beginning to dwindle when Jared saw the door behind Evan creak open. As soon as Evan noticed his roommate come in he fell silent, and Jared couldn't help but feel slightly guilty. 

When the roommate saw Jared on the computer screen, he started rambling in such a way that Jared had thought only Evan was capable of. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't realise you were talking to someone, I can go if you want. Sorry, I should've knocked before coming in." 

Evan had frozen up and the roommate was clearly ready to keep rambling for a good few more minutes, so Jared decided to take initiative. 

"It's chill, dude, I have class now anyway. Bye Evan." 

"Bye." Evan whispered, and Jared might not have noticed he'd spoken at all if he couldn't see his face. 

\-------

As soon as Jared hung up, David started talking again. 

"My friend Jack's here, I hope you don't mind, we were going to stay in his room but he and his roommate are both art majors so it reeks of paint fumes and there's art supplies everywhere. We can go somewhere else if you want us to, though." 

Evan took a deep breath and tried to persuade himself that sprinting from the room was not a good idea. "It's fine," He said, trying to sound normal. "You can stay in here, if you want to." 

"Cool." David finally finished entering, having frozen in the doorway some minutes ago, and was followed by a shorter boy, probably around Jared's height, who Evan was immediately intimidated by. 

"Hey, I'm Jack. You're Evan, right?" He asked, smiling widely. Evan got the impression that he smiled a lot, but he wondered how often it was genuine. He also wondered how Jack knew his name, if that meant that David talked about him, and if he did what he said. 

He realised that Jack was waiting for a response. 

"Yeah, hi." 

"Nice ta meet ya." Jack nodded in greeting, flopping onto David's bed with such cavalier that it had to be at least slightly fake. Davey sat beside him, and Jack put his arm around his shoulders. Evan felt like he was intruding on something private. 

The three sat in an uncomfortable (for Evan and David, at least, Jack seemed perfectly at ease) silence, until Evan finally broke it, to everyone's surprise. 

"How um- how long have you two been together?" He asked, proud of how normal a conversation starter that was. 

Except, no conversation was started. Jack and David simply stared at Evan for a moment, before Jack burst out laughing and David turned bright red. Evan, confused and worried, tried to convince himself that they weren't laughing at him. 

"Wh- what's so fu- what's so funny?" Evan forced out around the lump growing in his throat. 

"Nothin', it's just, Dave an' I ain't dating. We's just friends." Jack wheezed. 

_Oh._ Well, if that didn't make Evan feel stupid. He looked down at his lap in embarrassment. 

"Sorry, I shouldn't- I mean-" He gave up on trying to form a full sentence. "Sorry." 

"Don't worry about it." David smiled, though it held hints of a grimace. "You're not the first person who's thought that." 

Jack nodded emphatically. "Yeah, one time an old woman thought we were married and that Davey's little brother was our son." 

Evan giggled, more out of politeness than anything, but still felt extremely apologetic. Such was life when your main personality trait was anxiety. 

\-------------

"D'you think ya roommate liked me?" Jack asked Davey that night at dinner. 

Davey just shrugged as he finished his mouthful of pasta. "I honestly have no idea. I don't understand him at all." 

Jack nodded slowly, "Yeah… He seems cool, though, and at least he tries to be nice. Unlike Connor, who seems ready to avoid me for the rest of the year." 

"Hey, at least neither of us have it as bad as Albert, right?" 

Jack lowered his head solemnly, "Poor, poor Albert."

\------------

'Poor, poor Albert', however, was having a much better time with his roommate than Jack and Davey combined. 

"Racetrack Patricia Higgins I have incredibly important news!" Albert yelled, entering their room with an unusual amount of flair. 

"Um, ok?" Race answered, unprepared for the enthusiasm Albert was showing. 

Albert composed himself before speaking, but he was still grinning like mad- a far cry from his usual scowl. "I have a crush." He said, potentially holding back an arachnophobe-who'd-just-seen-a-spider-esque squeal. Race had less restraint. 

"EEEEEEEEE!!! Tell me _everything_!" 

"OK." Contrary to Races growing excitement, Albert was sobering from his initial intensity. "So, they're name is Elmer and they're in some of my classes, and they're so smart and, dude." Albert looked at Race incredibly seriously, "they are so cute." 

"Awwwwww I already ship it." Race squealed once again. "When can I meet them?" 

"How about never? Besides, we're not even dating. Yet." 

Race pouted. "What about at the wedding?" 

Albert rolled his eyes but played along anyway. 

" _Maybe_ at our child's first birthday party." He replied after a moment of exaggerated consideration. 

Race spat on his hand and held it to Albert, who mimicked the motion and sealed the deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Jared and Crutchie... I can't decide if shipping them is an absolutely genius plan or a Really stupid idea
> 
> Thoughts?


	5. Ew, Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Davey's ex shows up and Jack has a realisation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a hot minute, sorry yall
> 
> I'm gonna try and keep up with this, but, uhh, can't make any promises

In the three weeks that Jack had been at college, he had had all of two conversations with his roommate, who always either left or put on headphones when Jack tried to speak to him. That wasn't enough to deter Jack, though. In fact, it only made him want to befriend Connor even more--the guy could certainly use some friends. 

He told all this to Davey one day as they walked to his dorm, knowing that he understood Jack's desire to become friends with everyone, _especially_ the people who really needed one- when Davey suddenly stopped walking. 

"Spot?" He said incredulously, catching the attention of a short but stocky guy at the end of the hallway. The guy turned with a scowl that broke into a look of disbelief when his eyes caught Davey. 

"Well, if it ain't the Walkin' Mouth!" He replied, facing Davey and Jack and causing Jack's breath to catch because that was Sean Conlon. Who apparently knew Davey. Who approached them and greeted Davey with a _hug_ , albeit a slightly awkward one, given the height difference. 

When they separated, Davey turned toward Jack. 

"Jackie, this is Spot, he was my best friend before I moved schools." 

Jack's head spun as he tried to understand what the fuck was going on. Sean Conlon, his old Foster brother, knew Davey Jacobs, his best friend. Not only _knew_ him, but was _best friends_ with him. Sean's face became more closed off again, and he took a step away from Davey, as if suddenly realising that they weren't alone. 

"Don't sell me short, Mouth," Sean (Spot?) glared as Davey (Mouth?!) chuckled at his choice in words. Jack would've found it funny himself, if he wasn't busy trying to figure out what the fuck was going on. "We was more 'n 'best friends', the way I remember it." 

Davey blushed and Sean smirked and Jack was still reeling from the first revelations, and didn't need this new one confusing him even more. He didn't understand why his stomach was clenching, and he felt almost… Jealous? Of their friendship? He'd never been jealous of Davey's other friends before, though he supposed that could be because they were all his friends, too. He didn't think that was it, though. 

"An' anyway," Spot continued, looking at Jack. "Cowboy an' I already know each other. Unless he's forgotten me."

Jack shook his head to rid it of thoughts that he could come back to later, and replaced his likely gobsmacked expression with a charming grin. "How could I ever forget you, Sean? Or is it Spot, now? Whass'at about?" 

Sean chuckled, "Remember Bumlets?" 

Jack smiled, Bumlets had been like an older brother to all of the kids at the Foster home that he and Sean had shared, and he'd been known for giving nicknames to all the kids who passed through. A habit that Jack had adopted and used on almost all of his friends. In fact, Bumlets had been the one to saddle (ha) Jack with Cowboy, all those years ago. 

"Yeah," Spot continued, "Not long after you left, I got chickenpox, so they started callin' me Spot, and it stuck."

It suddenly hit Jack just how long it had been since he'd even thought about Sean, despite how close they'd been way back when. He felt a pang of regret and decided that he wanted to rekindle his friendship with Sean, introduce him to the rest of the group. He and Albert seemed like they'd get along swell. 

"What about you?" Jack asked, turning to Davey, who looked at him in confusion. "Mouth?" He elaborated, causing Davey to laugh and Sean to smirk. 

"You know how I talk a lot?" Davey responded. "The first time I met Spot, I rambled quite a bit-" 

Spot scoffed. 

"Fine, a lot. Anyway, Spot said, 'What are you, some kinda walkin' mouth?'" Davey's impression of Sean was scarily good, he even crossed his arms in a mimic of his current position. "And then he just kept using it." 

"How come ya didn't mention it when we met?" 

"Who in their right mind would introduce themself as Walking Mouth, Jackie? The one thing I was glad about when we moved was that I could finally lose that name."

"Guess it's makin' a comeback, caus' you'll always be Mouth ta me." Spot teased, or at least, Jack assumed it was teasing? He'd said it pretty seriously, but it sounded like a joke. Jack knew it didn't really matter, but it was the easiest thing to think about until he could talk everything out with Crutchie, or possible Race. 

\---------

"Racer, I need your help!" Jack flounced dramatically into Races room and threw himself onto Albert's (thankfully empty) bed. 

"What's goin' on?" Race asked, not looking up from the homework that he was pretending to do. 

"It's Davey. Kinda. We bumped into some guy he knew from his old school, and he was my old Foster brother." 

Race perked up at the gossip. He'd have to pay attention so he could relay it to Albert later. "For real?" He encouraged, assuming that that wasn't the whole story. 

"Yeah! And get this, Race- they _dated_."

"Oh shit!" Race was very invested now, even swivelling his chair to face Jack-giving up on the pretense of homework. 

"I got kinda… Jealous, though?" Jack said it like a question, clearly (in Race's eyes, at least) just making sure that Race already knew about Jack's crush. 

"Caus ya like Davey." He confirmed. 

Jack suddenly jumped up. "I what?!" 

"Oh shit, did you not know? I thought that's what you were hinting at- ain't you realised?" 

"I-uh-you-" Jack paused to gather his thoughts. It didn't work. "What?" 

"Sorry, dude I didn't mean ta cause a gay panic™," He fully said '™' out loud, completely casually. "I thought ya'd noticed." 

"I like Davey?" Jack asked, probably himself but Race answered anyway. 

"Yeah." 

"Fuck. Okay. Y'know, you may be right. Shit. Well, I gotta go." Jack bolted from the room, tripping over a jumper and kicking the door frame in the process. 

"Well, that could'a gone worse." Race shrugged, texting Albert that he had some 'scalding tea' to share when he got back, before returning to not doing his homework. 

\--------------

Jack walked back to his room in a state of numbness. He was being hit with a barrage of memories of not straight feelings and thoughts about Davey that he'd mistakenly labelled platonic. He briefly considered the possibility that Davey could feel the same way, but quickly dispelled the thought; that was insane. 

He pushed open the door to his room, ready for some solitude to mull it over in. He was nonplussed, however, as Connor stood up when he entered, looking nervous. 

"Hey." He greeted, much to Jack's surprise and slight annoyance. _Of fucking course_ he picked today of all days to be amicable. Figured. 

"How's it goin'?" Jack replied, albeit a little less cheerily than usual. 

"It's… Fine?" Connor responded, unsure and hesitant. 

Jack knew that if he didn't carry on the conversation, Connor wouldn't either. And as much he wanted to get back to his thinking, he knew that this could be a turning point and he couldn't waste that to mope about a crush--even if that crush happened to also be his best friend. 

Maybe he could mope about Davey and talk to Connor, simultaneously. 

"Ya mind if I talk ta ya 'bout somethin'? I ain't good at thinkin' things through on my own, but my normal confidant is kinda the last person I wanna tell this to." He forced a chuckle, and hoped that Connor wouldn't be freaked out by him opening up so much about something. He hoped that Connor would take it as a sign that he could trust Jack. 

Connor hesitated, "Uh... Yeah, okay." 

Jack ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "A'right. You remember my friend Davey? He was here when we first met." Connor nodded. 

"Yeah, it turns out that I like him. Like, _like_ him. A lot. An' I have for a while, an' i had no idea, an' if I'm honest I dunno how I'm gonna face him. I knew I was bi, so I ain't worried 'bout likin' a boy, but it's _Davey_ y'know?" 

Connor was silent for a while, which Jack didn't take as a good sign. However, he eventually replied, pretty unhelpfully, "You should probably tell him."  
At Jack's immediate frown, he scowled, though it seemed to be directed at himself, rather than Jack. "If you don't want my advice, don't fucking ask for it." 

Before Jack could reply, Connor had stormed out of the room. Jack tried not to feel too dejected, after all, that still probably counted as progress. 

But now he was back to thinking about Davey. Having finally realised that what he felt for Davey was romantic, Jack was faced with a whole host of thoughts that he'd never before considered to be meaningful, but now couldn't get out of his head- for example, how pretty Davey looked when he smiled. 

He was truly fucked.


	6. Lizard Children

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evan meets more of Davey's friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: brief panic attack at the very end of the chapter
> 
> Also the amount of projecting I did in this chapter is insane

"Hey, Evan, do you want to come have lunch with my friends and I?" David offered, as he did almost everyday, despite Evan's constant polite refusals. However, Evan was feeling slightly more confident than usual today (perhaps he'd had an especially good night's sleep) and he was very much considering accepting. He and David had formed a tentative and casual acquaintanceship- Evan was loath to call them friends, as he wasn't sure what the qualifications for a friendship were, so he decided not to risk seeing their relationship as such, in case David didn't. 

After a further moment of deliberation, Evan decided that now was the time to seize the day, and hesitantly accepted David's offer, in the most passive way possible ("Um, if you don't mind? It's fine if you were just offering to be nice. I don't want to be a bother…" And more to that effect). David clearly tried his best to hide his shock, but it was written plainly on his face, much to Evan's quiet amusement. 

\--------

"I just mean, y'know, _hypothetically_ if you put a lizard foetus into a human womb, could they birth it?" 

"Dude, what the fuck." 

When Evan had agreed to eat with David's friends, he hadn't quite expected this. The only one he'd met before was Jack, so he was absolutely not prepared for the chaotic bullshit that was constantly spewing from 'Racetracks mouth. If Evan had thought Jared was chaotic, he was being proven greatly wrong. 

"Maybe you should test the theory, Racer, have some lizard babies." David joked, clearly used to this kind of crazy conversation. 

"I ain't offerin' my uterus, I'm jus' suggestin' an experiment." 

David's other friend, Albert, rolled his eyes emphatically. David had said that he and Race were roommates, so it was no wonder that he was bored of the unfiltered word vomit. 

Finally, Evans biology-nerd side got the best of him. "It wouldn't work." All eyes were on him, and though he felt his cheeks redden, he continued, "Lizards lay eggs, so you couldn't, um, remove a baby from the mother, or whatever you suggested." 

After a small silence that left Evan wanting to sink into the floor, David's friend Albert burst into raucous laughter, sputtering out something that may have been about Race being an idiot but may have been about corned beef- it was very hard to tell. David soon joined him, though a little more subdued. Racetrack simply started pouting and mumbling about 'stupid science ruining all my plans'. 

Bored of being laughed at, Race suddenly changed the subject with a shit eating grin. "So, Davey, Jack was tellin' me 'bout yer old _friend_ ," -He winked theatrically- "How come we ain't met him yet?" 

Davey had been getting progressively redder as Race spoke, and his face was now a shade of scarlet that Evan had thought only he was capable of achieving- though he was very happy to discover otherwise. 

"Yeah, Davey, d'we embarrass you or somethin'?" Albert teased, badly faking offence. 

Davey huffed and glared with little malice at his friends. "Maybe he doesn't want to meet you two shit heads." 

Evan chuckled almost silently, desperate not to draw attention to himself. Race took the exact opposite approach, standing so vigorously that he knocked his chair over- Evan jumped so much his chair almost followed suit- and placing his hand on his chest, all the while gasping as loudly as possible. Everyone nearby turned to see the incongruous spectacle, causing Evan to lower his head as a final attempt to stay inconspicuous. The others were clearly used to this sort of performance from Race and didn't react beyond rolling their eyes both fondly and exasperatedly at once. 

When Race had finished his drama--for now- he turned to Evan. _oh no_.  
"Hey, uh," He hesitated, having forgotten Evan's name in the ten minutes since they'd met. "Mark?" 

"Evan." Albert supplied. 

"Whatever. He'll get a nickname at some point anyway." His focus returned to Evan, much against the anxious boy's wishes. "Would you like to join the cult of our friend's Spiritual Penis?" 

Albert groaned--"Not this again."--and Davey put his face in his hands, mumbling to himself in another language that Evan was too baffled to bother identifying. 

"I-what?" He asked, having never been more confused in his life. 

Despite everyone's obvious discomfort and annoyance, Race ploughed on. "The Spiritual Penis. It is everything and everyone. You are the Spiritual Penis, I am the Spiritual Penis, Al is the literal penis-" Albert hit him on the arm and murmered "Suck it, bitch." "-We worship the penis, we treasure the penis, we make sacrifices of penises to the penis-"

He was finally cut off by Albert placing a hand over his mouth. "Sorry 'bout 'im, he don't understand that _somethings shouldn't be said around people ya just met, idiot_ " The last part was clearly directed at Race, who didn't seem to be listening all that intently, opting instead for trying to wriggle out of Albert's grasp. 

Truly, Evan had never met anyone this chaotic. He wasn't sure how he felt about it. On the one hand, he was drawing a lot of attention to himself and, by extension, Evan; but if he ignored the disturbing jokes (?), Race was actually pretty funny, but maybe not Evan's type of person. Besides, Evan definitely wasn't the kind of person that Race would want to be friends with, so what did it matter? 

Somewhere in the midst of this spiral, Race and Albert had left, much to Evan's surprise when he began to pay attention to the world again. 

"I'm so sorry about Race." David said, "I want to say he's not that bad if you get to know him, but truly he only gets worse." He laughed a little, but when Evan faced him, the nerves on his face were much more real than the laugh. 

"He was, uh, quite intense? But it's fine! You don't have to apologise, I mean if anything, I should apologise, probably, but-" 

David had clearly been lost in Evan's rambling, but the confusion growing on his face had just made Evan talk more, making less and less sense as he went on. 

"Why should you apologise?" David asked, finally interrupting. 

"I, uh-I." Evan desperately tried to remember the reason he'd had for needing to apologise, but he'd lost if somewhere in the nonsense he'd been spewing--or perhaps he hadn't had one at all, and was just being an anxious mess. As per usual. 

Thankfully, Evan was saved from a full-blown panic attack by the arrival of David's friend Jack, followed by a hunched figure dressed entirely in black… Connor Murphy?! 

Evan stared incredulously as Connor trailed after Jack to sit at their table. He hadn't noticed Evan, he hadn't looked up from the floor, which left Evan panicking about what would happen if he did. 

Jack immediately launched into a tirade about something when he spotted David, neglecting to introduce Connor to him and Evan (because he couldn't have known that Evan and Connor already knew each other), so David rolled his eyes and interrupted Jack's rant. 

He leaned behind Jack to see Connor, who was still stood behind him. "Hi, I'm Davey Jacobs, and that's Evan Hansen. I assume you're Connor?" 

Connor looked up in surprise when he heard Evan's name, and his eyes widened when their's met. Evan felt his hands get sweaty and his voice fail because Connor Murphy couldn't actually be here. He had gone to some other college because this was supposed to be a fresh start, and how could it be if someone from his high school was there, too? And not just anyone, _Connor Murphy_. 

Connor stiffened and looked back at the floor, clearly taking issue with Evan being there, too--not that Evan could blame him. 

Jack, oblivious to Evan and Connor's discomfort, had returned to his story the second they'd been introduced. "Jus' wait til ya hear what Crutchie said…" 

But David seemed to have noticed that something was happening, although he appeared clueless as to what. 

Evan's throat was closing and his eyes were watering and he had to get out and he had to breathe and his heart was pounding and he was going to die… 

The next thing he knew, he was in the courtyard outside the dining hall, regaining his breath and waiting for everything to slow back to normal. 

In his mess of a mind, only one thought was clear: Connor Murphy was at his school.


End file.
